Heartbreak for Longwood as St Patrick's strike late to seal top spot

Injury-time two-pointer denies villagers

Longwood 3-2-5 (18)

St Patrick’s 1-2-11 (18)

Darren Hagan’s last-gasp two-pointer broke the hearts of Longwood supporters and secured St Patrick’s top spot in the IFC Group A at Ratoath on Saturday.

There was a substantial amount of injury-time allowed for by referee Adrian Cocoran and St Patrick’s needed every second of it as they just about clinched a draw that sealed first place in the group.

Longwood's second goal drew the sides level in the 43rd minute before a Tomas O’Brien point and a Sean Coloe goal put the underdogs four points ahead with 10 minutes left.

St Patrick’s chipped away in the closing stages but when free went Longwood’s way in injury time, the Stamullen side protested. The placed ball was brought forward and Ryan Moore had a handy opportunity which he converted to put Longwood up by two.

St Patrick’s dug deep and worked the late two-pointer equaliser from Hagan to spare their blushes.

In a hectic start to the contest, St Patrick’s responded immediately to Adrian Maguire’s opener with a goal from Senan McKeon.

Billy Hogan scored a fantastic two-point free before Sean Coloe rattled the net for the first of his brace of goals. St Patrick’s reduced the deficit back to the minimum towards the end of the first quarter with scores from Sean Emmanuel and Donal Landy.

Hogan then produced a bit of magic when he slotted a super two-pointer, but St Patrick’s finished the half with with four points on the spin which included a two-point free from Landy on the cusp of the short whistle and at the break the sides were deadlocked at 1-7 to 1-7.

Colm Nally’s side continued their momentum after the restart and Conor Black set up Shane Dowling for a score before Landy added a free. Oisin Black put St Patrick’s three points ahead with 20 minutes left.

Ryan Moore was introduced and had an immediate impact. Moore took on a shot from distance but the St Patrick’s defence were slow to react and Billy Hogan pounced for a goal which restored parity at the end of the third quarter.

St Patrick’s remained composed and brought themselves back into the contest with a nice score from substitute Cian Murphy and a brace of frees in quick succession slotted by Landy.

When Healy and Conor Black battled for possession from a St Patrick’s kick-out they brushed off each other, and the referee Adrain Corcoran award a free to Longwood much to the dismay of the St Patrick’s bench.

Due to dissent, the free was brought forward to in front of the posts and Moore made no mistake as he put Longwood two points ahead in injury time.

St Patrick's took full advantage of every second of the injury-time and on the cusp of full-time Neil O'Flaherty set up Darren Hagan for a well-struck two-pointer which drew the game leveland from the resultant restart the full-time whistle blew.

Longwood: Anthony Healy; Coyle O’Brien, Dominic Finnegan, Tomás O’Brien (0-1); Harry Leigh, Ciaran Sheridan, Cian Swan (0-1); Harry Hogan, Billy Hogan (1-4 one two-point free, one two-pointer); Damien Healy, Sean Coloe (2-0), Adrian Maguire (0-1); Gavin Griffith, Mark Kennedy, Sean Sheridan (0-1). Subs: Ryan Moore (0-1 free) for S Sheridan 40m, Ronan Greene for Kennedy 49m.

St Patrick’s: Evan McDonnell; Liam Brennan, David McQuillan, Oisin Black (0-1); Senan McKeon (1-0), Luke Whearty, Shane Dowling (0-1); Sean Baxter, John Mannion; Conor Black, Ben Sullivan (0-1), David Rothwell; Shane Landy (0-1 free), Sean Emmanuel (0-1), Donal Landy (0-7 four frees, one two-point free). Subs: Alex Curran for Whearty, Cian Murphy (0-1) for Landy both 40m, Neil O’Flaherty for Rothwell 47m, Darren Hagan (0-2 two-point) for McKeon 53m, Eoghan O Fuaruisge for Emmanuel 54m.

Referee: Adrian Corcoran (Drumbaragh).